How great leaders inspire action | Simon Sinek

Translator: Amantia Gjikondi Reviewer: Dita Bytyci How do you explain when things don't go as we suppose? Or better yet, how do you explain that others are able to achieve things that seem to defy all assumptions? For example: Why is Apple so advanced? Year after year, after year, after year, they are more advanced than all their competitors. And so far, they are just a computer company. They are like everyone else. They have the same access to the same talent, the same agencies, the same consultants and the same means. So why does it seem like they have something different?

Why did Martin Luther King lead the civil rights movement? He was not the only man who suffered from civil rights in the United States. And he certainly wasn't the only

great

orator of the time. Because the? And why were the Wright brothers able to understand the power of control, the direction of flight when there were certainly other groups that were more qualified, better funded, and had not achieved manned powered flight and the Wright brothers had? you can defeat them in you. There is something else at play here. About three and a half years ago I made a discovery, and this discovery profoundly changed my perspective on how I thought the world worked.

And this profoundly changed my way of acting on it. It turns out there is a pattern. It turns out that all the

great

and inspiring

leaders

and organizations in the world, like Apple, Martin Luther King or the Wright brothers, all think, act and communicate. in the same way. And this is the complete opposite of all the others. All I did was code it. And this is probably the simplest idea in the world. I call this the golden circle. Because? As? That? This little idea explains why some organizations and some

leaders

can

inspire

while others cannot. Let me define the terms very quickly.

Every person, every organization on this planet knows what they are doing, 100 percent. Some know how they do it, what you call it, your differentiated value proposition or your ownership process or your USP. But very few people or organizations know why they do what they do. And by "why" I don't mean "make a profit." This is a result. It is always a result. By "why" I mean: what is your goal? What is your cause? What is your faith? Why does your organization exist? Why do you get up in the morning? And why should anyone care? Well, as a result, the way we think, the way we act, the way we communicate is all internal.

It is clear. We go from the clearest things to the murkiest. But inspiring leaders and inspiring organizations, regardless of their size, regardless of their industry, all think, act, and communicate from the inside out. Let me give you an example. I take Apple as an example because it is easy to understand and everyone understands it. If Apple were like everyone else, a marketing message from them would sound like this. "We make good computers. They are beautifully designed, easy to use, and easy to access. Will you buy one? "Blah. And that's how most communicate. This is how most marketing is done.

This is how the highest sales are achieved. And how most of us communicate. We say what we do, we say how we are different or how we are the best and we expect some kind of behavior, a purchase, a vote, something like that. Here is our new law firm. We have the best lawyers with the most powerful clients. We always act for our clients who do business with us. This is our new car. Gets great gas mileage. It has leather seats. Buy our car. But this is not inspiring. This is how Apple really communicates. "In everything we do, we believe in challenging the status quo.

We believe in thinking differently. The way we challenge the status quo is by making our products beautifully designed, easy to use and convenient to access. We are here to make the best computers. Do you want to buy one?" Very different, right? Are you ready to buy me a computer. The only thing I did was change the way I gave information. What it shows us is that people don't buy what you do; People buy why you do it. People don't buy what you make; Buy why you do it. This explains why everyone in this room is absolutely adamant about buying an Apple computer.

But we're also totally fine with buying an Apple MP3, an Apple phone, or an Apple DVR. But as I said before, Apple is just a computer company. There is nothing that structurally distinguishes them from any of their competitors. All of your competitors are equally qualified to make all of these products. In fact, they tried. A few years ago, Gateway entered the market with flat screen TVs. They are extremely qualified to make flat screen TVs. They have been manufacturing flat screens for years. Nobody bought it. Dell entered the market with MP3 and PDA. And they make good quality products.

And they can make very well designed products. And nobody bought it. In fact, talking about it now, we can't imagine buying an MP3 from Dell. Why would you buy an MP3 from a computer company? But we do this every day. People don't buy what you make; Buy why you do it. The goal is not to do business with anyone who needs what you have. The goal is to do business with people who believe what you believe. This is the most beautiful part. Nothing I tell you is my opinion. Everything is based on the principles of biology.

Not psychology, biology. If you look at a cross section of the human brain, from top to bottom, what you see is that the human brain is actually divided into three main components that are perfectly connected to the golden circle. Our young brain, our homo-sapiens brain, our neocortex, which corresponds to the "what" level. The neocortex is responsible for all our rational, analytical and linguistic thoughts. The space between the two sections constitutes the oscillations of our brain. And our brain fluctuations are responsible for all our feelings, such as trust and loyalty. It is also responsible for all human behavior, all decisions, and has no language ability.

In other words, when we communicate internally, people can understand large amounts of complex information, such as features, benefits, facts and figures. This simply does not drive behavior. When we can communicate from the inside out, we are talking directly to the part of the brain that controls behavior and then allowing people to reason with the tangible things we say and do. This is where internal decisions come from. You know, sometimes you can give someone all the facts and figures and they'll say, "I know what all the facts and details say, but that's just not right." Why do we have to use the verb "doesn't feel" good?

Because the part of the brain that controls decision making does not control language. And the best we can say is, "I don't know. I just don't feel right." Or sometimes you say you are leading with your heart or your soul. But, I hate to break it to you, it's not insignificant body parts that control your behavior. It all happens here in our brain fluctuations, the part of the brain that controls decision-making and not language. But if you don't know why you do what you do and people respond by saying why you do what you do, then how do you get people to vote for you, buy something from you or, most importantly, be loyal and love being a part of what you do.

Again, the goal is not just to sell to people who need what you have; The goal is to sell to people who believe what you believe. The goal is not just to employ people who need work; It's hiring people who believe what you believe. I always say this, if you hire people just because they know how to do the job, they will work for your money, but if you hire people who believe what you believe, they will work for you with blood, sweat and tears. Nowhere is there a better example of this than in the Wright brothers.

Many people don't know Samuel Pierpont Langley. And if we go back to the early 20th century, the quest for flying man empowerment was like the website of the moment. Everyone was trying. And Samuel Pierpont Langley had, we assume, the recipe for success. What I mean is that even now you ask people. "Why did your product or company go bankrupt?" and people always give the same change to the same three things: undercapitalization, wrong people, bad market conditions. It's always the same three things, let's find out. The War Department gave Samuel Pierpont Langley $50,000 to discover the flying machine.

Money was not a problem. He had a position at Harvard, worked at the Smithsonian, and was well connected. He knew all the great minds of the time. He employed the best minds money could find. And the market conditions were fantastic. The New York Times followed him everywhere. And everyone had their sights set on Langley. So how come you've never heard of Samuel Pierpont Langley? A few hundred miles away, in Dayton, Ohio, Orville and Wilbur Wright had none of what we consider the recipe for success. They did not have money. They paid for their dreams with the income from their bicycle shop.

No one on the Wright brothers' team had a college education, not even Orville or Wilbur. And the New York Times followed them into nowhere. The difference was that Orville and Wilbur were driven by a cause, a purpose, a belief. They believed that if they could discover this flying machine, it would change the course of the world. Samuel Pierpont Lngley was different. He wanted to be rich and he wanted to be famous. He was chasing the result. He was in search of wealth. And little by little, he looks at what happened. The people who believed in the Wright brothers' dream worked with them with blood, sweat and tears.

Others worked to earn income. And they tell stories about how every time the Wright brothers went out, they had to take five sets of pieces, because that's how many times they crashed before they got to dinner. And finally, on December 17, 1903, the Wright brothers made a flight and no one was there to even experience it. We found out a few days later. And Langley was further shown to be motivated by the wrong thing: the day the Wright Brothers took off, he gave up. He could have said, "This is a wonderful discovery, guys, and I'm going to make it better with technology," but he did.

He wasn't the first, he didn't get rich, he didn't get famous, so he gave up. People don't buy what you make; They buy why you do it. And if you speak about what you believe, you will attract those who believe what you believe. But why is it important to attract those who believe in what you believe? Something called the law of diffusion of innovation. And if you don't know the law, you probably know the terminology. The first two and a half percent of our people are our innovators. The next 13.5 percent of our population are our first adapters.

The other 34 percent is your initial majority, your final majority, and your delays. The only reason these people buy touch phones is because you can't buy flip phones. (Laughter) We all sit in different places at different times on this scale, but what the law of diffusion of innovation tells us is that if you want mass market success or mass market acceptance of an idea, you don't you can have it until you hit that tipping point between 15 and 18 percent market penetration. And then the system tips. And I love asking companies, “What is your conversion to new business?” And they love to proudly tell you, "Oh, it's about 10 percent." Well, you can tax more than 10 percent of customers.

We all have about 10 percent who just "get it." That's how we describe them, actually. It's like that deep feeling: "Oh, they just get it." The problem is: how are you going to find those who get it before you do business with them versus those who don't? So this is here, this little gap, that needs to be closed, as Jeffrey Moore calls it, "crossing the chasm." Because, you see, the initial majority won't try something until someone else has tried it first. And these guys, the innovators and early adopters, are comfortable making these profound decisions. They are more comfortable making these intuitive decisions driven by what you believe about the world and not just the product available.

These are the people who stood in line for six hours to buy an iPhone when it came out, when they could just walk into the store the following week and buy one ready to use. These are the people who spent $40,000 on flat-screen TVs when they first came out and why the technology has been poor. And, by the way, they didn't do it because the technology was very good. They do it for themselves. It's because they wanted to be the first. People don't buy what you do: they buy why you do it. And what it does to you simply proves what you believe.

In fact, people will do things that prove what they believe. The reason that person bought the iPhone in the first six hours, standing in line for six hours, was because of what he believed about the world and how he wanted everyone to see it. They were the first. People don't buy what you make; they buy forthat you do. Let me give you a famous example, a famous failure and a famous success of the law of diffusion of innovation. First, the famous failure. This is an example of advertising. As we said before, a second ago, the recipe for success is money, the right people and the right market conditions.

Or not? You should succeed later. Watch TiVo. From the moment TiVo came on the scene, about eight or nine years ago, it has been the highest quality product on the market, without a doubt, there is no disagreement. They were very well funded. Market conditions were fantastic. I mean, we use TiVo as a verb now. I download videos to my outdated video recorder, yes I say it all the time, but TiVo is a failed commercial. They have never made money. And when they went public, their shares were around $30 or $40 and then they went down, and they never traded above 10.

In fact, I don't even think they ever traded above 6, except for some small parts. Because you see, when TiVo launched their product, they showed us everything they had. They said, "We have a product that pauses TV, skips commercials, fast-forwards what you're watching on TV, and remembers your viewing expressions without even asking." And the cynical majority said, "We don't trust you. We don't want it. We don't like it. You're scaring us." But if they said, "If you're the kind of person who likes to have complete control over every aspect of life, boy, we've got a product for you.

Pause the TV, skip the commercials, memorize your visual expressions." , etcetera etcetera." People don't buy what you do; they buy why you do it. And what you do only serves to prove what you believe. Now let me give you a successful example of the law of diffusion of innovation. In The summer of 1963, 250,000 people showed up on the Mall in Washington to hear Dr. King. They sent out no invitations and there was no website to check the date. Well, Dr. King wasn't the only man in. America who was a great orator. He wasn't the only man in America who suffered in the face of civil rights in America.

In fact, some of these ideas were wrong. But he didn't go around telling people. that was needed to change America. He went around and told people what he believed. I believe, I believe," he told people. And the people who believed what he believed took his case, made it their own, and told it to the people. And some of these people created structures to get more people to talk. And little By and by, 250,000 people show up on the right day, at the right time, to hear his speech. How many of them show up for that? Zero show up for themselves.

It's what they believed about America that made them. riding the bus for eight hours and standing in the sun in Washington in the middle of August. It's what they believe, and it wasn't about blacks versus whites. Dr. King believed there are two types of white people. laws in the world, those that are constructed by a higher authority and those that are constructed by man. And not until all the laws constructed by man are in accordance with the laws dictated by the higher authority will we live in a just world. .This only happened because the Civil Rights Movement was perfect for helping him bring his case to life.

We follow him, not for him, but for ourselves. And just so you know, he gave us the "I have a dream" speech, not the "I have a plan" speech. (Laughter) Listen to the politicians now with their full 12-point plans. They are not inspiring anyone. Because there are leaders and there are those who lead. Leaders have a position of power or authority. But those who lead

inspire

us. Even if they are individuals or organizations, we follow those who lead, not because we have to follow them, but because we want to. We follow those who lead, not for him, but for ourselves.

And it is this that begins with the “why” that has the ability to inspire those around us or to find others to inspire them. Thank you so much. (Applause)